Ambulance medical care

During this project I worked with five other design students from my class. Every student was given a specific role to be responsible for. My role was visual designer and meant that I was mostly responsible for the creation of the Figma prototype which we created, but also involved in all steps that was needed before the complete Figma prototype, such as sketches, sitemaps and wireframes.

Client

Region Halland

Year

2021

Keywords

Co-operative design

Interviews

Coding

Background

The administration Ambulance diagnostics and health (ADH) is county-wide and covers around 1100 employees. Within Region Halland, ADH works to ensure that patients and the citizens of Halland can have good health. Since 2020, a staffing unit has been part of Ambulance and medical trips of Halland (ASH)´s employees and works with staff planning.

The challenge

The ambulance service in Halland Region has for a long time lacked structure in its working methods. Different systems in the form of programs and applications have weakened their efficiency of working. The client wanted us to investigate how their staffing can be improved by identifying the weaknesses in the systems currently used. The client also wished for a solution and a gathering place in the form of an application were all the data is collected.

view result directly

The process

Diving into this design task, the group had no knowledge about the ambulance service in general. Therefore, our first move was to do desktop research around the client and the hole organisation. This gave us a clear overview of what we were designing against. We also made competitive analysis to see what other programs look like to give us inspiration for the future solution. Four different interviews were executed. The target audience were staffs and manager inside the ambulance service. The purpose was to include potential future users in our research.
‍

Before taking any decisions, the group gathered and carefully planned our future five weeks in front of us. Week by week were structured and adapted to our working pace. We got help from a program called Click Up. This planning program gave us a detailed workplan which we used when we felt lost or unsure about anything design related.

Patterns identified

When analysing the data we gathered from the interviews, different patterns was identified. We chose to divide the patterns to four big categories

1
The available information is scattered and needs to be brought and structured together.
2
There is lack of a place where all the systems and applications are merged together.
3
In the already important business, it is needed that staff and managers can see what competences employees have to sort out everyone to suitable spots.
4
Injustice may occur due to inefficient connection between the different systems which gets employees unfairly working shifts.

Sitemap

Based on the research, brief and demands, a sitemap was defined. A sitemap was efficient for us due to all planning that we needed for the application. Before any sketch we carefully discussed where every function, option and tabs would be placed.

Sketches and wireframes

The patient to avoid sketching before the sitemap made our sketch phase much easier and time efficient. Beside the sketches, we also used a useful wireframe program called Balsamiq. This program was useful due to the simplicity to create fast wireframe without any focus on the visual satisfaction.

When everybody presented their sketches, we noticed slightly differences with both advantages and disadvantages with each sketch. Therefor a combined wireframe was defined with parts of different sketches to make the most accurate one.

The result

With a tight deadline of around 4-5 weeks, the group manage to bring a relatively high fidelity Figma prototype of the application. Besides the application, the group also brought a self-coded application due to the course demands.

On the green button “Bokade pass”, you will find the booked shifts. The dates are surrounded by a green circle.
If you press a booked date, you will see further information about your shift.
You also have the opportunity to send a request to change your shift. It’s also possible to write a sick report if so is needed.

On the blue button “lediga pass”, you will find available shifts that you can book.
If you press your preferred working shift, you can also see further information about this specific shift.
If you press an available date, you can see the possible working hours on that date. Also, with the “boka pass” button you can easily book your shift.
‍

You also have an orange button called “tillgänglighet”, where you can register your availabilities
If you press a specific date, you can choose what time of day you are available at, before confirming the availability

Under “notifikationer” you will find your notices. (For example, a shift change request).
Under “nyheter” you will find news that is relevant within the ambulance medical care.

On the top of the screen, you will find:
‍Kommun – where you choose your working municipality
Kontakter – where you can find all contact information.
Statistik – where you find your working statistic
Further down on the screen you will find your regular profile information and your working competences.
‍

Coded application and further development

We also created a programmed prototype in javascript. The self-coded prototype is based on the figma prototype and had the purpose of giving the client something to build upon. Due to a strict deadline, the group had no time to finish the prototype.
‍

The biggest thing that is missing is a database. ADH´s database needs to be implemented in our code to make the website functional. The code overall also needs to be further iterated and refined for us to accept the artefact fully completed.

"They have come up with a superb solution in a very short time, actually equivalent or better than many existing apps. More collaboration between Halland Ambulance Service and Halmstad University is planned for the academic year 2022–2023"

Johannes

Ambulance Medical Care, Region Halland

Lessons learned

New design methods and tools

Within the project, the design team tested many new design methods, including daily scrum and co-design. These methods facilitated the work towards the final product. I also got to try and learn new programs like ClickUp and Balsamic during the design process.

Value of research and analysis

An important lesson was the importance of doing a rich research and analysis before starting the sketching phase. By basing design choices on rich research, the design team could avoid including their own ideas that were not data-driven.

Responsibility

I took responsibility for the role as visual designer and contributed to creating clear instructions to streamline the design process. The use of tools like Balsamiq and Figma facilitated prototype creation and saved time.

Albert tholin